Prestidge and Performance at Coorparoo installed the M3 rear subframe bushes and the rear end is nice and settled at full WOT 1st and 2nd no squirming anymore nice and firm great with the high torque that this car has,
Lets a bit more road noise in, but worth the expense.

You can feel it straight away slightly more firmer in the rear end, but if you car is stock, yes you would not feel much difference only when the car is highly tuned and going full throttle through the gears the car would wobble from left to right with the high torque but now it perfect and powering out of corners the rear doesn't skip over bumps, just bites now.
If your still on crappy runflats and stock you might not tell much difference, normal tyres the bushes are too soft, bmw made the bushes soft for the runflat tyres.

I imagine the improvement won't be noticed unless the limit is being explored, which shouldn't be on the street.

I went to a tuning session a couple of weeks before and a couple of weeks after it was done.
It felt slightly different but not necessarily better. But I also think the wheel alignment they did is dodgy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chappy

You can feel it straight away slightly more firmer in the rear end, but if you car is stock, yes you would not feel much difference only when the car is highly tuned and going full throttle through the gears the car would wobble from left to right with the high torque but now it perfect and powering out of corners the rear doesn't skip over bumps, just bites now.
If your still on crappy runflats and stock you might not tell much difference, normal tyres the bushes are too soft, bmw made the bushes soft for the runflat tyres.

I have Michelin PSS and didn't notice a big difference (only stock power though).
What is completely gone, and what I found most disconcerting about the car when stock, is the pause before changing directions at higher speeds eg even just changing lanes at 130kmh.

I have Michelin PSS and didn't notice a big difference (only stock power though).
What is completely gone, and what I found most disconcerting about the car when stock, is the pause before changing directions at higher speeds eg even just changing lanes at 130kmh.

I have the same issue with the 135i. Very weird steering response that becomes worse at high speed. Now with BMW Performance suspension its only half as bad as the stock car. Did you change any other aspect of the suspension at the same time as changing the bushes?

I felt the paused steering response seems like a bump steer issue. I heard the rear end tends to toe in as the suspension is compressed. Maybe the initial body roll tends to cancel out some the steering input. I'm in two minds about getting the subframe bushes done, because the cars handling isn't upsetting me as much now as it was. I also thought about getting adjustable rear dampers that might give a bit more lateral stability to the rear suspension.

I also have BMW performance suspension which made a much bigger difference than the bushings or front control arm kit.
I'm no expert but to me it felt like the issue was the soft bushings and suspension being loaded up before it would change direction.

Nugget, Thanks for the reply. I also have the M3 front arms, Performance suspension and Michelin PSS tires. Its good to hear that from someone who has the sub-frame bushings in addition to the mods I have already.

For now the car performs to the level I would expect of a BMW coupe. IMO, the stock M-sport suspension was way underdone, particularly the lack of damping, under-steer, and the large amount of body-roll.

If I was you I probably wouldn't bother with the bushings then.
I'm pretty happy where it's at as well, only thing I might add is camber plates as there is still a fair amount of understeer at the track.

The M3(1M) subframe bushing really make the car more stable at high(er) speeds. Also in town the rear end doesn't slop side to side - as IF its being held in place with rubber bands. Its been reported that after a year or two the rear OE bushings will be shot. Mine were very "soft" when I upgraded to M3 units.

The biggest change I noticed was how much better the front suspension seems to work! The back end has way less "wiggle" or "movement" and does exactly what you want it to do. When I drive over pot holes I no longer weave or try to miss them. These M3 bushing just soak them in. When corning hard and applying some power (WOT) in a turn.. the back end never does anything funny.

Maybe if I installed these I could hold it flat out through the "kink" at Lakeside. At the moment myself & the car are too nervous to do this.

I let off through the kink as well Tim. I think the only times I don't are when I don't have enough speed coming onto the main straight so I'm not going as fast. I've been for a passenger run in Simon's car and thought he was going to kill us first time he went foot flat through it.